Beauty (Essay 8 of Seeing: When Art and Faith Intersect)

Excerpt: Beauty as a concept has given twentieth century writers, especially art critics and art historians, a great deal of difficulty. Why is this so?Answering would take several volumes--! will settle for less. The traditional idea of beauty has all the trappings of a universal concept. For Plato, one of the earliest and most prominent supporters of such universals, beauty, along with other concepts, had the mind of the creator as its source. For much of Christianity\u27s existence Plato\u27s idea of beauty was accepted--with some alterations. For one, the creator became Yahweh, creator of the universe. Secondly, though spiritual beauty might inhabit physical beauty, the reverse was not necessarily the case

Disruptive Innovation Within the Legal Services Ecosystem

Many law firms have done little to address the opportunities and threats presented by potentially disruptive technology (DT), such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that some law firm leaders use to address the potentially detrimental influences of DT on their organizations. The systems approach to management was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were collected from 6 participants at 2 international law firms with offices in California, using semi-structured interviews and organizational artifacts. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding and thematic analysis, resulting in 4 themes: (1) recognizing the legal ecosystem and legal firms are open systems, but organizational subsystems often function as semi-closed systems; (2) acknowledging that while DT represents the most significant potential challenge in the near future, the immediate challenge is improving technology, which requires organizational adjustments; (3) recognizing the need for firms to invest more heavily in innovation generation activities; and (4) realizing the need for increased utilization of augmenting technologies, such as AI or ML, to streamline non-advisory outputs. The findings of this study suggest that, while DI may pose a moderate threat, there are also significant advantages to adopting DI as a formal aspect of organizational strategy. The results of this study may contribute to social change by outlining ways in which firms can lower costs to clients while increasing access to legal services for those in underserved communities

Strategies to Streamline the U.S. Army’s Acquisition Approval Process

This qualitative single-case study explored strategies that senior U.S. Army Commanders could use to reduce the approval time for an acquisition category (ACAT) III need document in the Joint Capabilities Integrated Development System (JCIDS). Data came from historical documents and semistructured interviews of 30 ACAT III requirement writers and senior U.S. Army commanders with expertise in JCIDS. The conceptual framework was Goldratt’s theory of constraints. Miles, Huberman, and Saldana’s data analysis method was used to identify themes. Six themes emerged that yielded six possible strategies to reduce approval time: (a) define and implement an objective goal, (b) simplify the process and decrease redundancy by reducing or eliminating irrelevant levels of review, (c) determine the optimum number of reviews necessary for the desired outcome, (d) determine if the chief of staff of the Army should be the approving authority for an ACAT III need document, (e) determine the appropriate offices and individuals that should be consulted about the need document during the world wide review process, and (f) enhance training for JCIDS personnel participating in the need approval process. These findings are already contributing to positive organizational and social change because they have already been adopted by the U.S. Army as the basis for a significant effort to streamline the acquisition process, save U.S. taxpayer funding, and enhance the combat efficiency of the U.S. Army, thereby increasing the safety and security of the United States and its citizens

Strategies to Address Substance-Abusing and Substance-Impaired Healthcare Professionals

This research explored strategies used by some healthcare leaders to address substance abusing and impaired healthcare professionals. The conceptual framework for this qualitative case study was the concept of due diligence. Data were collected from 40 managers and supervisors, 3 executives, and company documents, and analyzed to reveal elements of a comprehensive strategy. A effective comprehensive strategy consists of policies that address the causes, the short term and long term aspects, and both the ethical and legal aspects. Policies and procedures are equally applied, are easily accessible, are well communicated, are supported by training, provides positive encouragement. provides a path for recovery, includes audits to ensure compliance and provides for organizational reviews to determine the need for updating. Leaders who implement a such a strategy to address substance abuse among healthcare professionals can create positive social change by ensuring a safer environment for patients, employees and their communities they serve

Internal Strategies for Assessing Organizational Communication Channel Effectiveness

Evolving communication technology, the increased volume of information needed by businesses and the intensified competitive environment have made internal company communication more critical to business success. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies for assessing the effectiveness of internal communication channels used by managers and leaders of three law firms in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The participating firms were recognized by their peers as being exceptionally well managed. Data from interviews and company documents were analyzed through the conceptual lens of channel expansion theory and the use of software coding to identify patterns and themes. Three important themes emerged: informal assessment strategies, indirect assessment strategies, and efficient versus timely assessments. The first theme suggested the effectiveness of an informal assessment strategy, depending on the size and complexity of the organization. The second theme reflected the effectiveness of an indirect assessment for organizations that lack the resources to support a more direct and specific assessment process. The third theme reflected the participants’ perceptions of informal and indirect assessments may be more efficient, the feedback from the assessments are often less timely. Managers may consider these themes in formulating communication policies. Small professional service firms, such as legal firms, provide important services to individuals, families, and businesses in their community

Beyond the Enclave: Success Strategies of Immigrant Entrepreneurs

In the United States, immigrant entrepreneurs start almost one third of all new businesses. However, many immigrant entrepreneurs lack the knowledge or expertise to evolve their businesses beyond the ethnic enclave where their businesses are located. This multiple case study captured the strategies used by five Latino immigrant business owners who successfully expanded their business beyond their ethnic enclave. The conceptual framework for this study was dynamic capabilities theory. Data were collected from interviews, company documents, and observations of the operation of businesses and owners. Member checking and transcript reviews were used to enhance the reliability and credibility of the data. Miles, Huberman, and Saldana’s data analysis method was used to identify six themes that yielded three possible strategies to help Latino immigrant business owners expand outside of their enclave: (a) adopt a multicultural hybridism model changing the internal makeup of the employee base to include more interethnic labor and managerial resources; (b) achieve language and cultural proficiency of the host community; and (c) seek and nurture professional development and mentorship relationships to obtain access to advice, opportunities, and financial resources. Also noted was the importance of individual readiness to seize opportunities and being tenacious in their business efforts. The study findings may contribute to positive social change because strategies that help immigrant entrepreneurs succeed have benefits that extend beyond their immediate family to the broader communities in which they operate by increasing job creation, wealth accumulation, and the development of society

Predictor of Turnover Intention of Register Nurses: Job Satisfaction or Work Engagement?

Both employee job satisfaction (JS) and employee work engagement (WE) have been examined as possible predictors of employees’ intention to voluntarily leave a specific job or company, known as turnover intention (TI). While the body of knowledge has grown concerning the nature of TI, there remains the unsettled question of which of the two concepts most accurately predicates TI. The high turnover rate of registered nurses (RNs) in hospitals in the U.S. presented an opportunity to examine if JS and WE predict, and to what degree, among RNs. For this quantitative correlational research probability sampling was used to identify 155 participants, all full-time registered nurses with 2 or more years of employment in New York hospitals. Data, obtained from surveys, were analyzed via multiple linear regression. The results revealed that only job satisfaction predicted turnover intention among the nurses sampled, F (5,154) = 12.008, p R2 = 287.The findings indicate that leaders of healthcare organizations, might lower nurse turnover intention by focusing on improving job satisfaction. Specifically, TI may be lower by addressing the issues identified from regular job satisfaction surveys, and by a greater emphasis on creating a more satisfying workplace. A more stable RN workforce could reduce healthcare disruptions in communities

Interaction of Close-in Planets with the Magnetosphere of their Host Stars I: Diffusion, Ohmic Dissipation of Time Dependent Field, Planetary Inflation, and Mass Loss

The unanticipated discovery of the first close-in planet around 51 Peg has rekindled the notion that shortly after their formation outside the snow line, some planets may have migrated to the proximity of their host stars because of their tidal interaction with their nascent disks. If these planets indeed migrated to their present-day location, their survival would require a halting mechanism in the proximity of their host stars. Most T Tauri stars have strong magnetic fields which can clear out a cavity in the innermost regions of their circumstellar disks and impose magnetic induction on the nearby young planets. Here we consider the possibility that a magnetic coupling between young stars and planets could quench the planet's orbital evolution. After a brief discussion of the complexity of the full problem, we focus our discussion on evaluating the permeation and ohmic dissipation of the time dependent component of the stellar magnetic field in the planet's interior. Adopting a model first introduced by C. G. Campbell for interacting binary stars, we determine the modulation of the planetary response to the tilted magnetic field of a non-synchronously spinning star. We first compute the conductivity in the young planets, which indicates that the stellar field can penetrate well into the planet's envelope in a synodic period. For various orbital configurations, we show that the energy dissipation rate inside the planet is sufficient to induce short-period planets to inflate. This process results in mass loss via Roche lobe overflow and in the halting of the planet's orbital migration.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figure

Elephants can determine ethnicity, gender, and age from acoustic cues in human voices

Animals can accrue direct fitness benefits by accurately classifying predatory threat according to the species of predator and the magnitude of risk associated with an encounter. Human predators present a particularly interesting cognitive challenge, as it is typically the case that different human subgroups pose radically different levels of danger to animals living around them. Although a number of prey species have proved able to discriminate between certain human categories on the basis of visual and olfactory cues, vocalizations potentially provide a much richer source of information. We now use controlled playback experiments to investigate whether family groups of free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Amboseli National Park, Kenya can use acoustic characteristics of speech to make functionally relevant distinctions between human subcategories differing not only in ethnicity but also in sex and age. Our results demonstrate that elephants can reliably discriminate between two different ethnic groups that differ in the level of threat they represent, significantly increasing their probability of defensive bunching and investigative smelling following playbacks of Maasai voices. Moreover, these responses were specific to the sex and age of Maasai presented, with the voices of Maasai women and boys, subcategories that would generally pose little threat, significantly less likely to produce these behavioral responses. Considering the long history and often pervasive predatory threat associated with humans across the globe, it is likely that abilities to precisely identify dangerous subcategories of humans on the basis of subtle voice characteristics could have been selected for in other cognitively advanced animal species

Landscape Influence on Canis Morphological and Ecological Variation in a Coyote-Wolf C. lupus × latrans Hybrid Zone, Southeastern Ontario

The ecology of Coyote-Wolf (Canis latrans × C. lupus) hybrids has never fully been typified. We studied morphological and ecological variation in Canis within a region of Coyote-Wolf hybridization in southeastern Ontario. We assessed Canis morphology from standard body measurements and ten skull measurements of adult specimens and found that Canis in this region are morphologically intermediate between Algonquin Provincial Park Wolves (C. lupus lycaon) and Coyotes, indicating a latrans × lycaon hybrid origin; however, there is a closer morphological affinity to latrans than lycaon. Analysis of 846 scats indicated dietary habits also intermediate between lycaon and Coyotes. We used a geographic information system (GIS) to assess spatial landscape features (road density, land cover and fragmentation) for six study sites representing three landscape types. We found noticeable variation in Canis morphology and diet in different landscape types. In general, canids from landscape type A (lowest road density, more total forest cover, less fragmentation) displayed more Wolf-like body morphology and consumed a greater proportion of larger prey (Beaver [Castor canadensis] and White-tailed Deer [Odocoileus virginianus]). In comparison, canids from landscape types B and C (higher road density and/or less total forest cover, more fragmentation) were generally more Coyote-like in body and skull morphology and made greater use of medium to small-sized prey (Groundhog [Marmota monax], Muskrat [Ondatra zibethicus] and lagomorphs). These landscape trends in Canis types suggest selection against Wolf-like traits in fragmented forests with high road density. The range of lycaon southeast of Algonquin Provincial Park appears to be limited primarily due to human access and consequent exploitation. We suggest that road density is the best landscape indicator of Canis types in this region of sympatric, hybridizing and unprotected Canis populations